How to Keep Litter Box from Smelling Up the House: Top 10 Ways

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Having a pet cat can be one of the most rewarding and relaxing things you can have at home. Unfortunately, some problems come along with taking care of a feline, and one of the most common is how the odor from a litter box can stink up a room or the entire house.

Fortunately, there are ways on how to keep litter box from smelling up the house, either to minimize the smell or even prevent odors from spreading throughout your home.

How to Keep Litter Box from Smelling Up the House

Here are multiple ways that you can keep your house cat-friendly but and still keep the odors away:

1. Choose the Location of Your Litter Box

Among the most common reasons why the smell of the kitty litter spreads to all areas of your house is it is placed in a wrong location. Having a litter box in a room with no windows or air circulation almost ensures that the smell will spread to other rooms.

As such, make sure that you keep the litter box in an ample open space where there is air flow or ventilation. This helps in minimizing the smell and prevents it from going into other areas of your home.

2. Scoop and Throw

When taking care of a cat, it is important to scoop out their wastes at the end of every day. This helps in minimizing the smell and keeping the room odor-free. That is especially important if you own more than one cat.

When their wastes accumulate, this can cause the odor to build up and seep through the litter box and smell up the house. It is also essential to keep the wastes in a sealed wastebasket or in a trash can outside of the home.

3. Clean Regularly

Aside from scooping the litter box, it is also essential to clean the entire litter box regularly. While scooping gets rid of the cat’s wastes, there is still the spray or urine of the cat that has collected in the kitty litter. This can still cause odors to build up in the litter box and spread out in the room.

Clean out your kitty litter at least every few days. Also, make sure to replace the kitty litter at least once a week. This refreshes the smell of the box and prevents the build-up of unwanted odors.

4. Covered Litter Box

Most litter boxes are top open, meaning there is no cover or hood. While this may be more convenient for your cat, this can cause smells to escape and spread to other areas of your house easily.

There are actually several litter boxes that have covers and hoods. They will help in keeping the wastes inside the litter box and preventing the smell from spreading. Having a covered litter box can also provide your cat with privacy when doing their business.

5. Special Kitty Litter

If you really want to minimize the smell of your litter box, there are special kitty litter beads and pebbles that are available. This special kitty litter is made from materials that neutralize odors.

There is even special litter that has its own fragrance to counteract the smells of cat wastes and urine. They are also often made with special material and different color schemes. While this special kitty litter can be quite expensive, it could be worth it if you want your house to remain odorless.

6. Sanitizing Solution

In most cases, cat owners clean their kitty litter with water to wash out extra cat waste and urine. However, this may not be enough to remove all the odors.

There are special washing solutions that are explicitly made to wash out the kitty litter and neutralize the smells from wastes and urine. Much like the special kitty litter, this solution can be expensive and impractical (especially if you have several cats), but it is very effective and will keep the litter box and your home smelling fresh.

7. Cat Rug

One of the reasons why the smell still spreads in your home is that cats cannot completely leave all theirs wastes behind. Sometimes, they cannot avoid stepping on their wastes or getting some of their urine on their tail and fur. In some cases, cats are messy when they do their business, and they can scatter smelly kitty litter out and around the litter box.

An elegant solution to this problem is a cat rug under the litter box. This special rug helps in drying your cat once they are done with their business. It also helps in keeping extra kitty litter in place and prevents the cat from bringing it with them to other places in the house.

8. Disinfectant Spray

Another solution is to have disinfectant spray nearby, especially around the litter box. The reason why the odor of cat waste is so pungent is that of the bacteria found in wastes.

One way to dampen the smell is to spray your litter box with disinfectant spray. This helps in masking the smell and also keeps the area sanitized. It is also a good idea to spray around the litter box to kill any remaining odors.

9. Clean and Sweep your House

Sometimes the pungent cat smell is not actually coming from the kitty litter but from the cat itself. Cats are known to keep themselves clean, but they can also carry a very distinct smell. This smell sticks to their fur, which is then shed throughout your house.

One way of preventing this smell from accumulating and growing in your house is to sweep the floors and clean the furniture regularly. Those items pick up all the fur and debris shed by your cats.

10. Train Your House Cat

One of the reasons why your house has that litter box smell could be because you haven’t adequately trained your cat only to relieve themselves in the litter box. While you may have seen your cat use the box, they could be going in other places as well. This is especially true with male cats that spray areas to mark their territory.

Final Thoughts

The smell of the litter box should not prevent you from owning and caring for a cat. There are a lot of simple ways on how to keep litter box from smelling up the house. Buy the right products, train your cat, and keep your house clean.

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